Kissing in America by Margo Rabb

Kissing in America by Margo Rabb

In the two years since her father died, sixteen-year-old Eva has found comfort in reading romance novels—118 of them, to be exact—to dull the pain of her loss that’s still so present. Her romantic fantasies become a reality when she meets Will, who seems to truly understand Eva’s grief. Unfortunately, after Eva falls head-over-heels for him, he picks up and moves to California without any warning. Not wanting to lose the only person who has been able to pull her out of sadness—and, perhaps, her shot at real love—Eva and her best friend, Annie, concoct a plan to travel… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a father recounted
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The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe

Norris Kaplan is clever, cynical, and quite possibly too smart for his own good. A Black French Canadian, he knows from watching American sitcoms that those three things don’t bode well when you are moving to Austin, Texas. Plunked into a new high school and sweating a ridiculous amount from the oppressive Texas heat, Norris finds himself cataloguing everyone he meets: the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Making a ton of friends has never been a priority for him, and this way he can at least amuse himself until it’s time to go back to Canada, where he belongs… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisic slur
  • Racism
  • Depression & depressive episode
  • Attempted suicide recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Police brutality discussed
  • Bullying
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And We Rise by Erica Martin

And We Rise by Erica Martin

In stunning verse and vivid use of white space, Erica Martin’s debut poetry collection walks readers through the Civil Rights Movement—from the well-documented events that shaped the nation’s treatment of Black people, beginning with the “Separate but Equal” ruling—and introduces lesser-known figures and moments that were just as crucial to the Movement and our nation’s centuries-long fight for justice and equality.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery mentioned
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Lynching
  • Police brutality
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A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom

For sixteen-year-old Mel Hannigan, bipolar disorder makes life unpredictable. Her latest struggle is balancing her growing feelings in a new relationship with her instinct to keep everyone at arm’s length. And when a former friend confronts Mel with the truth about the way their relationship ended, deeply buried secrets threaten to come out and upend her shaky equilibrium. As the walls of Mel’s compartmentalized world crumble, she fears the worst–that her friends will abandon her if they learn the truth about what she’s been hiding. Can Mel bring herself to risk everything to… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Bipolar Disorder
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This Is My America by Kim Johnson

This Is My America by Kim Johnson

Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time—her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy’s older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a “thug” on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial profiling
  • Ku Klux Klan & white supremacy
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Police brutality & violence
  • Lynching mentioned
  • Incarceration of a parent
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Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth

Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth

Apple: Skin to the Core, is a YA memoir-in-verse. Eric Gansworth tells the story of his life, of an Onondaga family living among Tuscaroras, and of Native people in America, including the damaging legacy of government boarding schools—and in doing so grapples with the slur common in Native communities, for someone “red on the outside, white on the inside,” and reclaims it.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking
  • Fire recounted
  • Animal death*

* Note : A kitten is stabbed to death with scissors.

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Give Me Some Truth by Eric Gansworth

Give Me Some Truth by Eric Gansworth

Carson Mastick is entering his senior year of high school and desperate to make his mark, on the reservation and off. A rock band — and winning the local Battle of the Bands, with its first prize of a trip to New York City — is his best shot. But things keep getting in the way. Small matters like the lack of an actual band, or the fact that his brother just got shot confronting the racist owner of a local restaurant. Maggi Bokoni has just moved back to the reservation from the city with her family. She’s dying to stop making the same traditional artwork her family sells to tourists (conceptual stuff… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Physical child abuse
  • Adult-minor relationship mentioned
  • Teacher-student relationships mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Gun violence
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All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney

All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney

Allie Abraham has it all going for her—she’s a straight-A student, with good friends and a close-knit family, and she’s dating cute, popular, and sweet Wells Henderson. One problem: Wells’s father is Jack Henderson, America’s most famous conservative shock jock…and Allie hasn’t told Wells that her family is Muslim. It’s not like Allie’s religion is a secret, exactly. It’s just that her parents don’t practice and raised her to keep her Islamic heritage to herself. But as Allie witnesses ever-growing Islamophobia in her small town and across the nation, she begins to embrace her faith… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Islamomisia
  • Racism
  • Panic attacks
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Look Past by Eric Devine

Look Past by Eric Devine

Someone brutally murdered Mary Mathison, daughter of a prominent and very conservative local pastor, and Avery, a transgender boy who loved Mary, is bent on finding her killer. He goes to the crime scene to do some investigating but is quickly put in harm’s way. Reluctantly, Avery must move to the sidelines to wait for the police to do their job. However, following Mary’s funeral, Avery receives the first in a series of disturbing text messages that can only come from the killer, revealing that Avery is now a target. The killer claims that Mary’s murder was revenge… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Transmisia
  • Domestic violence
  • Suicide
  • Murder
  • Police brutality
  • Physical assault
  • Bullying
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Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Shiori, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted, but it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother. Raikama has dark magic of her own, and she banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes, and warning Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Self-harm
  • Blood depiction
  • Body horror
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire
  • Animal death
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